Allen met her first manager, George Lamb in Ibiza. She earned money by working at a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing ecstasy.
When her family went to Ibiza on holiday, Allen told her mother that she was staying with friends but remained in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She dropped out of school at age fifteen, not wanting to "spend a third of her life preparing to work for the next third of her life, to set herself up with a pension for the next third of her life." Career 2002–2005: Career beginnings
That same year, Allen appeared in the music video to the Fat Les song " Vindaloo". She appeared as a lady-in-waiting in the 1998 film Elizabeth, which was co-produced by her mother. Her first solo was " In the Bleak Midwinter". Allen also played violin, guitar and trumpet and was a member of a chamber choir. She played the piano to grade 5 standard and achieved grade 8 in singing. At that point Allen said she knew that music was something she needed to do either as a lifelong vocation or to get it out of her system. Īllen told Loveline that the audience was "brought to tears at the sight of a troubled young girl doing something good". This led to Allen singing " Baby Mine" from Disney's Dumbo at a school concert. When Allen was eleven, former University of Victoria music student Rachel Santesso overheard Allen singing " Wonderwall" by Oasis in the school's playground impressed, Santesso, who later became an award-winning soprano and composer, called Allen into her office the next day and started giving her lunchtime singing lessons. Īllen attended 13 schools, including Prince Charles's junior alma mater, the Independent Hill House School, Millfield, Bedales School and was expelled from several of them for drinking and smoking. The Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer was close to Allen. For that time, the family lived with comedian Harry Enfield while her mother dated him. During her early childhood, Allen lived with her family on a council estate. When she was four, her father left the family. episode " The Yob", which her father had co-written. Īt the age of three, Allen appeared in The Comic Strip Presents. Allen is the goddaughter of Wild Colonials vocalist Angela McCluskey and third-cousin of singer Sam Smith. Allen's mother was from a working class Portsmouth family, and was 17 when she gave birth to Sarah. She has an older sister, Sarah a younger brother, actor Alfie (subject of her song " Alfie") and a younger sister, Rebecca.
Allen has since resumed her screen acting career from 1998 she appeared in the 2019 film How to Build a Girl. In 2018, Allen released her autobiographical book, My Thoughts Exactly. She has released two further albums: Sheezus (2014), which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and No Shame (2018) debuting at number eight.Īllen also ventured into other careers in 2008, she hosted her own television talk show, Lily Allen and Friends, on BBC Three before launching her own record label, In the Name Of, in 2011. Allen and Amy Winehouse were credited with starting a process that led to the "year of the women" media label in 2009 that saw five female artists making music of "experimentalism and fearlessness" nominated for the Mercury Prize. This success saw her receive the Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist at the 2010 Brit Awards. It spawned the hit singles " The Fear", “ Not Fair” and " Fuck You".
The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts and was well received by critics, noting the singer's musical evolution and maturity. In 2009, her second studio album- It's Not Me, It's You-saw a genre shift, having more of an electropop feel, rather than the ska and reggae influences of the first one. Her debut record, Alright, Still, was well received, selling over 2.6 million copies worldwide and bringing Allen nominations at the Grammy Awards, the Brit Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. Her first mainstream single, " Smile", reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public on Myspace and the publicity resulted in airplay on BBC Radio 1 and a contract with Regal Recordings. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born ) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and author.